Rayburn opens season with shutout of Rams

Published 7:00 pm, Saturday, August 30, 2008

Bringing two Waltrip Rams with him, Sam Rayburn quarterback Ed Bell scores Sam Rayburn's first points of the 2008 season late in the first quarter of Friday night's game.

Bringing two Waltrip Rams with him, Sam Rayburn quarterback Ed Bell scores Sam Rayburn's first points of the 2008 season late in the first quarter of Friday night's game.

Rayburn opens season with shutout of Rams

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Chris Bussey wasn’t joking around when he said Sam Rayburn would be running the ball more this season.

Forty-eight minutes into the 2008 season and the Texans rush offense is averaging 67 yards more than their average at the end of last season. But for nostalgia sake, Rayburn didn’t forget the pass offense.

Quarterback Ed Bell and Frank Hernandez hooked up for a pair of touchdown passes, including a 54-yard fourth-quarter strike that represented the knockout punch as the Texans blanked Waltrip 20-0 in the season opener for both teams at Veterans Memorial Stadium Friday night.

But Sam Rayburn only attempted eight passes, completing three, giving one an indication of how much the Texans relied on a ground attack that was attempted 34 times for 194 yards and one score.

By extending its winning streak over Waltrip to five in a row, Sam Rayburn won a season opener for the fifth straight year, a first for Rayburn’s football program. The only other period in which the Texans managed to go five straight years without losing a season opener was the period from 1975-1979, but a tie contest was in that mix.

Meanwhile, Rayburn’s defense was manufacturing just the fifth season-opening shutout in Rayburn’s 45-season history and only the third since 1966.

The Rams could only tabulate 117 yards of total offense, kept out of triple digits on the night for both the pass and run. Forty-eight of those yards came during Waltrip’s final series. The closest Waltrip came to scoring was when a 39-yard field-goal try sailed wide left late in the first half. That came after the team had a first down on the Rayburn 15 but the threat died there. The defense also recovered two Waltrip fumbles. The game began ominously when the Rams fumbled away the opening kickoff.

“I thought our defense played outstanding,” Bussey said. “I was proud of the kids’ effort. I felt like they played more physically.”

David Valasquez was arguably the defensive leader. He dropped several ballcarriers for negative yardage. He earned the first pancake award of the new season when he leveled Christian Pipkin for a two-yard loss in the second quarter.

The only thing Bussey didn’t care about the offensive part was the fact the ratio between run and pass wasn’t 60-40. But a bunch of folks were helping to grind out 194 rushing yards over 34 attempts.

It wasn’t until the team’s third possession before that running attack began to pay dividends. It had done so during the first possession, but a 15-yard personal foul call wiped out a Bryan McFarland touchdown run. As far as runs that did stand up, McFarland tallied romps of 22, nine and 11 yards in the first period before he developed cramps in the legs and he never carried the ball again.

Two of those runs came in the team’s third possession that saw the club travel 54 yards in six plays.Bell capped it with a 16-yard run with 15 seconds left in the first. Bell got a little help from Waltrip on the play. He was about to be sandwiched for a sack when he alertly stepped up in the pocket and the two defenders collided. Then it was a footrace to the end zone. Angel Ramos provided the PAT.

Bell and Hernandez hooked up for their first touchdown pass on the next series, a 21-yard toss with 9:27 to play in the half. It capped a short three-play, 40-yard drive. The 54-yarder was easily the second-half highlight. Rayburn was in the process of going backwards after starting a possession on the Waltrip 37. But on third and 27, Hernandez ate up that real estate and 27 more with 5:17 to play in the game.

Bussey saw concerns with protecting against the blitz, ball security and too many penalties.

“We have to clean up the penalties,” Bussey said.

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Rayburn could have had three first-quarter touchdowns, but a fumble wiped out a threat during their second possession. Waltrip linebacker Chris Williams played an excellent first half in recovering that fumble, recording a sack and stopping a ballcarrier for negative yardage.